Today, eBay Canada announced the winners of its 16th annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, honouring Canadian entrepreneurs using eBay’s global marketplace to build and scale their thriving businesses.
“Small businesses are at the heart of everything we do,” said Rob Bigler, general manager of eBay Canada. “On this year of unprecedented challenges brought on by the pandemic, it is more important than ever to celebrate the achievements of resourceful and resilient Canadian entrepreneurs.”
The 2020 eBay Entrepreneur of the Year Awards winners include:
Entrepreneur of the Year – Ajay Mirchandani of Bleacher Bum, Richmond Hill, Ont. He channeled his life-long passion for sports memorabilia into a thriving family business, complementing his storefront with rapidly growing online sales, half from outside of Canada.
Micro-Multinational of the Year – Luc Dion and Claire Teasdale of Boutique LUC.S, Montreal. The traditional consignment shop went online selling vintage luxury fashion. Online exports now represent the majority of their overall sales.
Integrated Entrepreneur of the Year – William Chong of Dolly’s Toys & Games, Toronto. Building off exponential sales growth from eBay, the sibling-owned and operated toys and games business continues to expand their complementary brick and mortar storefronts.
“Every year, eBay’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards showcases the spirit of resilience, innovation and drive of Canadian small businesses – which is more true than ever right now amid COVID-19,” said Mary Ng, federal minister of small business and export promotion.
E-commerce has seen rapid growth as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent report from Statistics Canada found that retail e-commerce sales increased by a record breaking 99.3% during the first few months of the pandemic compared to the same period last year. More recently, Canadian small businesses on eBay saw a more than 40% increase in both sales and sold items in the last quarter alone.
In response to the challenges the pandemic brought to local retail, eBay Canada launched “Up & Running,” an accelerator program specifically designed to support offline businesses transition to selling online. In addition to e-commerce tools and supplies, eBay offers a hands-on onboarding service for small businesses to help them navigate the online global marketplace.
The initiative – which continues to be leveraged by Canadian SMBs throughout ongoing pandemic lockdown measures – also helps existing online businesses build their export sales, eBay said.
Canadian small businesses are also a focus for the company’s upcoming Cyber Week sales and marketing efforts, which is in addition to the ongoing promotion of a dedicated microsite established earlier this year to make it easier for Canadians to shop from local businesses. Further information is available at the link eBay.ca/together.
“This pandemic underscores the power of e-commerce particularly for small retailers,” said Bigler.
Consumers around the world have shifted online, he added and the winners of eBay Canada’s 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards “exemplify how impactful an online presence can be for small businesses to grow and thrive – regardless and in spite of COVID-19.”
This year’s award winners will receive a cash prize to reinvest into their business, a free one-year eBay Store subscription upgrade and quarterly consultation sessions with an eBay Canada business development expert.
